Bouladjèl (also sometimes Boulagèl or Bannjogita) is a vocal percussion technique practiced on the French

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

island of

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

. It consists of a poly-rhythmic superposition of percussive vocalizations (throat sounds, onomatopoeia, gasps) and hand claps performed as an accompaniment to certain forms of traditional singing, mostly songs of mourning and funeral wakes. A bouladjèl performer is known as a ''boularien''.

Origins

Written accounts of bouladjèl are few and recent. It is thought to have developed among Guadeloupean enslaved field workers to replicate drumming at a time when the Code Noir forbade them to use drums, and transmitted orally since. In 1988, Lafontaine presented "boula-gueule" as a vocal

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

performed during funeral wakes. However, although it is nowadays most specifically a funeral singing practice, local oral accounts state that it was also commonly heard outwith wakes up to the 1970s (e.g. child play, work, leisure singing...). Indeed, during his 1962 visit to Morne-a-l'eau, Guadeloupe, Lomax recorded bouladjèl in both a funeral context ("Bo! Pati") and a work context ("Adolin Do La").

Performance

Bouladjèl is a poly-rhythmic musical form where groups of performers each repeat a distinct & short onomatopoeic pattern of throat sounds, sometimes filtered through hand-formed resonating cavities, to produce complex

ostinati In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...

together. Though it is considered to be a part of the gwo ka system, traditional bouladjèl excludes the use of musical instruments other than the voice and supporting hand claps. Some sources claim that its underlying base pattern can't be directly mapped to any of the traditional gwo ka rhythms, while others liken it to the pattern known as ''tumblak''. Ensembles usually comprise two or three individuals to a dozen upwards, in principle all male. They are led by a member called the ''commandeur de bouladjèl'', who signals for the performance to begin with a traditional, spoken statement which is personalized for each occasion. At times, performers may also enunciate short comical messages in a rhythmic manner similar to

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

on top of the vocal percussion. In the context of funeral wakes, this stimulates catharsis through laughter as part of the grieving process.

Recordings

* Susan Marcel Mavounzy mentions<> Gaston Germain-Calixte (aka Chaben) and his 1966 recording titled ''Zombi baré moin''. *Louis Victoire dit Napoléon Magloire, ''Senval'' (1963). *Alan Lomax, ''Adolin Dola et Bo i Pati'' (1962), in 'The French Caribbean: We Will Play Love Tonight' (2004). * Robert Loyson, ''Canne à la richesse'' et ''Si papa mô'' (Emeraude EM-026, 1966) * Gaston Germain-Calixte, ''Zombi baré moin et Clocotè-la'' (Emeraude EM 023, 1966) *Yvon Anzala, ''Gèp-la'' (1973) et ''Ti fi la ou té madanm an moin'' (Anzala, Dolor, Vélo 1974?) *Lukuber Séjor, ''Du premier voyage au retour à ka'' (1993) et ''Pawol é mizik kon tilili'' (2002) *SOFT, ''Kadans a péyi-la'' ( Kryph 2005); ''Gouté Gwadloup'' (Aztec Music 2008); ''Omaj'' (Aztec Music 2009) *Rosan Monza, ''Adyé Vivilo'' (Debs 2008); ''Ki jenné ou jenné'' (Debs 2011) *Kimbol, ''Envitasyon'' (2008) *David Murray, ''Yonn-dé'' (Justin Time 2003), ''Gwotet'' (Justin Time 2008) et ''The devil tried to kill me'' (Justin Time 2009) *Jacques Schwarz-Bart, ''Soné ka-la'' (EmArcy 2007) *Kan'nida, ''Evariste Siyèd'lon'' (CD Kyenzenn 2000), ''Nou ka travay'' (2007), ''Tayo'' (2013). *Hilaire Geoffroy, ''Réconciliation'' (2002) *Cyrille Daumont, ''La vi sé on kado'' (2004) *Indestwaska, ''20 Lanné'' (2013)

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite report , url=http://www.culture.gouv.fr/content/download/115270/1312232/version/1/file/Le+Bouladjel+D%C3%A9finitif+Vs+PDF.pdf , title=Fiche 00326 de l'Inventaire national du patrimoine culturel immatériel (Entry number 00326 to the French cultural heritage inventory). , publisher=French Ministry of Culture , language=French , date=12 December 2012 , access-date=23 March 2018 {{cite thesis , url=https://dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-01081975 , title=Les sillons du Gwo ka , author=Chotard, O. , year=2008 , publisher=Tours: Université François Rabelais (Musique, musicologie et arts de la scène) , page=12 , language=French {{cite conference , title=Les musiques guadeloupéennes dans le champ culturel afro-américain, au sein des musiques du monde. , author=Lafontaine, Marie-Céline. , publisher=Pointe-A-Pitre, Paris: Éditions caribéennes. , date=November 1986 , language=French , page=96 , isbn=978-2-876-79028-5 {{cite AV media , title=Caribbean Voyage: The French Antilles. , author=Lomax, A. , publisher=Rounder , date=2004 , id=82161-1733-2 , url=https://www.discogs.com/Various-Caribbean-Voyage-The-French-Antilles/release/3134120 {{cite journal , title=The transmission of voicing in traditional Gwoka: Between identity and memory , authors=Tahon, M., Sitchet, P.-E. , journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies , volume=2 , number=2 , date=1 August 2017 , pages=157–175 , publisher=Bristol, UK: Intellect on behalf of Centre for Interdisciplinary Voice Studies , doi=10.1386/jivs.2.2.157_1 , url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01593445/document Guadeloupean music